Russellville head coach Jeff Holt knows the Alma Airedales are no joke. Not only have the Airedales traditionally defeated the Russellville Cyclones — Alma leads the series 6-2 — the Airedales brings with them a familiar face at head coach spot – one who comes with a considerable amount of clout.

Alma (1-1) head coach Doug Loughridge began coaching for the Cyclones in 1999, the same time Holt took on the head coach mantle. Loughridge soon became the defensive coordinator at Russellville (2-0) before taking the head coaching job with the Charleston Tigers.

“When you’re playing against a coach you have coached with and respect, it’s always difficult,” Holt said. “And coach Loughridge has already proven he’s one of the best coaches in the state.”

During his six years at Charleston, Loughridge went 68-9, won two state championships and five conference championships.

“You have to remember that you’re playing that school [Alma] and not that coach,” Holt said. “I don’t think him having coached at Russellville will have a great affect on the game.”

The Cyclones, who totaled 552 yards on offense against the Siloam Springs Panthers in Week 2, were sluggish in the opening moments of the game. Holt remarked RHS must address the slow start if they were going to keep the wins coming.

“We continue to look at it to try and determine what the reasoning is and why we are starting slow,” Holt said. “We actually had a good first drive, but we couldn’t finish it. Then, we couldn’t get the ball back.”

Siloam Springs got the ball back on an onside kick, held the Cyclones to a three-and-out and Russellville gave up the ball on a fumble.

“We weren’t able to get the football and go,” Holt added. “We have to do better with the possessions we have.”

For Holt, the battle will start at the line of scrimmage. Despite thumping Morrilton and Siloam Springs handily in Weeks 1 and 2, Holt said both teams were able to run the football more than he was comfortable with.

“Alma is a tough match-up. They’re big and physical, and we have to do better than last Friday,” Holt said. “It’s all going to start up front. We have to do a really good job defensively up front.”

Holt said Russellville will have to run the ball better to come out on top of the Airedales. The Cyclones rushed for 107 yards against the Panthers, although Holt said they might have had more.

“We just didn’t run it much last week,” Holt explained. “They had a lot of people in the box, so we threw the ball more, but we’re going to throw the ball,” the coach said. “Our screen game is part of our run game.”

Fortunately for Russellville, senior quarterback Cody Jones has been able to deliver said throws this season. Jones has thrown for 765 yards and 10 touchdowns in two games. While the performance surprised many fans, Holt said he was not among them.

“He hasn’t surprised me,” he said. “He’s been preparing for this a long time. The game does slow down once you have full control of what you’re doing on offense. You know where people are going and where they’ll be, and you can start reading defenses. He’s doing a great job of that and hopefully he can take that forward for the rest of the year.”